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The Real Problem The Left Has With Kevin Williamson Is That He’s Anti-Abortion

On Thursday, Jeffrey Goldberg of The Atlantic fired conservative Kevin Williamson, whom he had recently hired.

As expected, social media went into a frenzy. Many praised the decision while many others slammed Goldberg for his journalistic cowardice. The Atlantic is supposed to be a place of intellectual diversity where talented people can flourish and introduce new ideas and perspectives.

And Williamson is extremely talented.

If you’ve ever read any of his articles at National Review, you’ve noticed that he does not mince words. His acerbic style isn’t everyone’s taste, but it’s difficult to look past his mastery of language and prose even if you disagree with him.

Goldberg knew of Williamson’s controversial statements about abortion before hiring. The real reason he fired him was because a digital mob made up of pro-aborts (like feminist Jessica Valenti) could not abide a loud, pro-life conservative sitting in residence at The Atlantic. It really wasn’t because of Williamson’s prior Twitter exchange about capital punishment – in the form of hangings – for women who have had abortions.

Why?

Because currently, abortion is legal. This is a sad reality, but a reality nevertheless. In these free United States, it is permissible to seek out an abortionist for the purpose of ending the life of your unborn child. For any reason. Women have the ability to get an abortion in every single state and only the most stringent laws forbid it after twenty weeks.

Abortion is a daily horror. We are comforted by the distance from actual procedure rooms and lack of intimate knowledge of each occurrence, but the truth remains: thousands of unique individuals are killed each day by this “right” called abortion.

In Goldberg’s announcement on Thursday that he was “parting ways” with the prolific writer, he referenced a 2014 podcast wherein Williamson clarified his position on punishment for abortion. Apparently, Goldberg had been lazy in the initial vetting process.

KEVIN WILLIAMSON (CO-HOST): And someone challenged me on my views on abortion, saying, “If you really thought it was a crime you would support things like life in prison, no parole, for treating it as a homicide.” And I do support that, in fact, as I wrote, what I had in mind was hanging.

[…]

WILLIAMSON: My broader point here is, of course, that I am a — as you know I’m kind of squishy on capital punishment in general — but that I’m absolutely willing to see abortion treated like a regular homicide under the criminal code, sure.

KEVIN WILLIAMSON (CO-HOST): But yeah, so when I was talking about, I would totally go with treating it like any other crime up to and including hanging — which kind of, as I said, I’m kind of squishy about capital punishment in general, but I’ve got a soft spot for hanging as a form of capital punishment. I tend to think that things like lethal injection are a little too antiseptic —

CHARLES C.W. COOKE (CO-HOST): Sure, if you’re going to do it.

WILLIAMSON: — quasi-medical — yeah, if the state is going to do violence, let’s make it violence.

Personally, I don’t support capital punishment for women who have had abortions. I wrote a piece specifically about that after President Trump, while candidate Trump, suggested something similar. Not only is abortion the law of the land at present, but I believe the abortion industry and its educators have poisoned a generation into believing abortion is just another medical procedure in the spectrum of women’s health. But most important of all, we can’t save these unborn children until we reach the mothers. Women who have had abortions are some of the most powerful pro-life voices in our arsenal. They have been in that moment; scared, hopeless, sometimes alone, with no place to turn.

Pro-life individuals must accept that many women truly believe their only way out is through abortion. It’s immoral in every sense of the word, but again, this is the reality in our land.

Post-abortive women must be met where they are with compassion and care. The testimony of their empty wombs speaks louder than their deaths ever will.

Back to Williamson…

If you read his words from the podcast, he indicates that he is “willing to see abortion treated like a regular homicide under the criminal code.” That means abortion would have to be outlawed first, officially considered murder, and then treated like any other taking of a human life.

Sorry, but that’s not too controversial. While I am personally not in favor of this, I can see his logic in treating it as any other homicide with prosecution in court and all that entails.

The actual issue people take with Williamson is his unwavering declaration that abortion is murder. That without a doubt, taking the life of an unborn child IS immoral and akin to any other homicide. They love his statements on punishment because they know it will cause uproar and fuel a narrative, but their first love is to hate his passion for life.

…on the matter of abortion, we aren’t talking about “potential” anything. A sperm cell or an egg cell has your DNA. It’s part of your body. I may not think everything you do with your own body is good or wise (not every tattoo is advisable), but I’m not going to throw you in prison over it, either.

You mustn’t kill your children.

I have heard endless stupid metaphysical disputes about abortion, from legalistic disputes about “personhood” (a cowardly intellectual dodge if ever there were one) to medieval-style claims about what used to be called “ensoulment.” None of that is of any interest. What happens in abortion happens to a 1) living 2) human 3) organism. The tissue in question is living tissue, not dead tissue; it is human tissue, not rutabaga or aardvark tissue; it is arranged in an organism, not as a tumor or a fingernail clipping. It has its own DNA and it will continue on a life course — maybe majestic, maybe tragic — as it grows, because it is a living human individual at the earliest stages of its development. A “clump of cells”? Yes, which is what living human organism is at that stage in its life.

You mustn’t kill your children.

Not at any age. Not at any stage of development. Not for any reason. Debate, disagree, dissent, fight, cajole, persuade, argue all you want about war and peace, taxes, the welfare state, global warming, the Palestinian question, immigration, Donald Trump, animal rights, the Second Amendment, libel laws, school choice, the literary merits of Ayn Rand. I’ll have all those fights with you and more. Smoke all the weed you like and watch all the porn you want. Keep up with the Kardashians and live like them, too, if that seems best to you. I won’t pretend it’s a good idea, but it’s a free country.

You mustn’t kill your children.

Everybody with eyes to see knows what an abortion is and what it does.

Are Kevin Williamson’s statements about punishment for post-abortive women controversial? Absolutely. Do I agree with them? No. Are they going to be reality? Uh, are you kidding me? Roe v. Wade is considered holy in this country.

Kevin Williamson was “let go” from a publication that just couldn’t handle someone with such fierce anti-abortion views. He wasn’t punished for his fanciful views about legal consequences connected to abortion.

He was kicked out for refusing to back down in expressing that abortion is murder and should be viewed as such even in this current climate.